Class of 2002
Lee Schmidt is an Allard Alumnus from 2002. She worked as an Indigenous rights lawyer at a Vancouver firm before joining the Peter A. Allard School of Law in 2017 as the Associate Director Indigenous Legal Studies. She maintains a part-time law practice and is called to the Bar of British Columbia. Schmidt is a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. She
identifies as Cree and Métis from her father, the late Louis Schmidt, of Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan, and Dutch from her late mother Lisa. She was born and raised in the Coast Salish and Stó:lō traditional territories. In her legal practice, Schmidt represents Indigenous clients in treaty negotiations, consultation processes, land use planning, and cases concerning Aboriginal rights and title claims and Indian residential school representative and class actions.
In 2018 Schmidt co-chaired the “Cultural Competency for Lawyers” course for the Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia (CLEBC). The course was a direct response to Call to Action #27 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which requires lawyers to obtain sufficient cultural competency training, including education on the history and legacy of residential schools, Indigenous legal traditions, conflict resolution, and anti-racist legal practice. She was the staff lead for Allard’s Indigenous Cultural Competency Certificate for four years.
Schmidt, alongside Mandell Pinder LLP lawyers coached the Allard School of Law team for the Kawaskimhon National Aboriginal Moot for 5 years. The moot addresses pressing issues on Indigenous and Aboriginal law and helps law students develop a better understanding for Indigenous legal customs and practice, thereby honing the cultural competency skills of the next generation of lawyers.